Finding Your Happy Place

Happy place (n): A place you go to be fully present with yourself and achieve a state of happiness, without stress or worry.

Finding your happy place can be a very difficult task, especially when you’re away from home. At home, my happy place is the beach. The peacefulness of watching the same, monotonous act of the waves crashing over and over soothed my otherwise scatterbrained thoughts.

At Elon, it’s been tougher to find a place for me where I can go to just sit to clear my head. After trying many places (the Moseley lawn, Nades quad, and Lake Mary Nell, to name a few) I finally realized that the best “happy place” you can create is within yourself.

Our lives are unpredictable—it seems silly to rely on one spot to make us reset our minds. I encourage you to take the time to find this within yourself. Whenever you’re feeling stressed, down, or just scattered, come back to a place within yourself that makes you feel happy—that makes you fully present and content with yourself.

There are, of course, ways in which we can cultivate happiness within ourselves. I was just in the cutest local boutique near my house, Fleur De Lys, where there were many notebooks, quotes, and books to promote contentedness with our well-being. What most caught my eye were gratitude jars, which are glass containers with an inspirational quote engraved on the outside. Everyday, you are supposed to write one thing you are grateful for on a slip of paper and drop it into the jar. I think that this is a great way to not only acknowledge our appreciation for what we have, but also something amazing to come back to when we are feeling down or upset. Additionally, these jars can essentially serve as your own little happy place (and better yet, you can make your own with just a mason jar!).

In midst of moving back and forth from home and college and everywhere in between, we can find ways to acquire happiness within. And what better way to find out what really makes you happy than summer break?